CUPE 3902 takes legal action against U of T

Unit 1 of CUPE 3902 went on a strike last winter that lasted four weeks.

CUPE 3902 has taken legal action against U of T due to claims the university acted in “bad faith” during negotiations which took place last school year.

According to a media release dated December 8 and posted on CUPE 3902’s Facebook page on Wednesday, the union has filed a complaint to the Ontario Labour Relations Board alleging the university provided “inaccurate, incomplete, and misleading” information regarding the new Graduate Student Bursary Fund.

Althea Blackburn-Evans, U of T’s director of media relations, released a statement attributed to Angela Hildyard, VP human resources and equity, confirming that U of T is aware of the complaint.

“The University vigorously denies the allegations,” said the email statement. “The University will be responding to [the complaint], and the matter will be dealt with by the Labour Board.”

According to the statement, U of T provided CUPE 3902 with $1.045 million for the Graduate Student Bursary Fund before September and the data needed to distribute the funds at the end of September.

“CUPE has chosen to distribute none of these Graduate Student Bursary Fund monies. We have made several requests to CUPE to disburse these funds and we will continue to do so,” said Hildyard.

The Medium was unable to independently verify either party’s claims.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday evening, UTSU supported CUPE’s move and encouraged students to attend a rally at Simcoe Hall on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m.

“The university has failed in its duty to provide CUPE 3902 accurate and crucial data while bargaining, and we condemn the administration’s actions,” reads UTSU’s statement. “This revelation calls into question the entire agreement that was reached with CUPE 3902 and could result in further actions from the union.”